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2018 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama
The 2018 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama is the fourth race of the 2018 IndyCar Series. It was originally scheduled to be raced on April 22, 2018. The rain from Sunday postponed the race to Monday, being the first Monday IndyCar race since the 2016 ABC Supply 500. Had the Pocono 2016 race not be postponed, the matches of Tommy Davidson vs. Kristi Yamaguchi and Dave Foley vs. Jalen Rose would have been held on schedule. Drivers ;Chevrolet * Josef Newgarden * Simon Pagenaud * Will Power * Matheus Leist * Tony Kanaan * Max Chilton * Charlie Kimball * Jordan King * Spencer Pigot * Rene Binder * Gabby Chaves ;Honda * Scott Dixon * Ed Jones * Zach Veach * Alexander Rossi * Ryan Hunter-Reay * Marco Andretti * Sébastien Bourdais * Zachary Claman DeMelo * James Hinchcliffe * Robert Wickens * Graham Rahal * Takuma Sato Pro Mazda Practice Qualifying 1 Race 1 Qualifying 2 Race 2 Indy Lights Practice Qualifying 1 Race 1 Qualifying 2 Race 2 IndyCar Practice 1 Will Power topped the session, with Josef Newgarden 2nd and Scott Dixon 3rd. Chespin finished 4th in the session, their best result since making the Sebring Open semifinals. The first red flag caused was Long Beach winner Metagross, and Josef Newgarden caused the second red flag in the session. Practice 1 results: Practice 1 Results Practice 2 Team Penske continued their dominance, even without Castroneves, with Josef Newgarden topping the session by boucing back from a first practice spin. Pidgeot showed headlines by finishing 2nd in the practice table, with Beartic finishing 3rd, Will Power in 4th and Long Beach winner Metagross in 5th. Multiple red flags were caused again in the session, with Rene Binder, Joey Fatone and Simon Pagenaud among them. Practice 2 results: Practice 2 Results Practice 3 Will Power used his magic lap from Practice 1 to top the session. Volcarona finished 2nd, with Scott Dixon 3rd, Ryan Hunter-Reay 4th and Metagross 5th. Once again, multiple red flags have caused in crashes from rookie Jordan King in turn 2 and both Jonathan Bald and Ueli Kestenholz in turn 5. Abomasnow called turn 5 "the crashing point of Barber since multiple cars have crashed on this turn in practices". Practice 3 Results: Practice 3 results Qualifying Seeds Metagross (Fast 12) Josef Newgarden (Pole Winner) Graham Rahal (First round) Beartic (Qualified) James Hinchcliffe (Qualified) Scott Dixon (Qualified) Ryan Hunter-Reay (Qualified) Will Power (Qualified) Jonathan Bald (Fast 12) Pee Saderd (Fast 12) Larvesta (First round, caused red flag) Volcarona (Fast 12) Joey Fatone (Fast 12) Jirayu La-ongmanee (First round) Pidgeot (First round) Simon Pagenaud (Fast 12) Ueli Kestenholz (First round) Mario Lopez (First round) Chespin (First round) Nidoking (First round) Jordan King (First round) Zachary Claman DeMelo (First round) Rene Binder (First round) Group 1 All the seeded players from Max Chilton until Jonathan Bald in the 2017 Swiss Open - Men's Singles are drawn in this group. Josef Newgarden, Ryan Hunter-Reay, James Hinchcliffe, Volcarona, Pee Saderd and Jonathan Bald advanced to the fast 12. Chespin, Graham Rahal, Pidgeot, Jordan King and Nidoking failed to qualify for the fast 12. This was the first time since Sonoma 2017 that Pee Saderd had a successful qualifying IndyCar campaign by advancing to round 2, and the first time ever in 2018 in a road/street course qualifying he didn't get penalized. Group 2 Will Power, Beartic, Joey Fatone, Metagross, Simon Pagenaud and Scott Dixon advanced to the fast 12. Ueli Kestenholz, Zachary Claman DeMelo, Jirayu La-ongmanee, Apolo Anton Ohno, Mario Lopez, Rene Binder and Larvesta failed to qualify for the fast 12. Larvesta, who was Volcarona's pre-evolution, caused the red by spinning in turn 5. This prevented their pre-evolution from advancing, and only Volcarona advanced. Fast 12 ;Group 1 *' Josef Newgarden' *' Ryan Hunter-Reay' *' James Hinchcliffe' * Volcarona * Pee Saderd * Jonathan Bald ;Group 2 *' Will Power' *' Beartic' * Joey Fatone * Metagross * Simon Pagenaud *' Scott Dixon' Josef Newgarden, Will Power, James Hinchcliffe, Scott Dixon, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Beartic advanced to the Fast Six. Pee Saderd, Metagross, Simon Pagenaud, Volcarona, Joey Fatone and Jonathan Bald failed to qualify to the Fast Six. Despite Saderd barely missing his first Fast Six since the 2014 St Pete race, this marked Pee Saderd's best IndyCar qualifying result in a road/street course race since Sonoma in 2015. Fast 6 * Josef Newgarden * Will Power * James Hinchcliffe * Scott Dixon * Ryan Hunter-Reay * Beartic Starting Grid Jirayu La-ongmanee qualified 18th in the no.30 car. Apolo Anton Ohno also drives it. Race Sunday Due to the weather for Sunday and Monday, IndyCar moved the time start of the race from 2:35 PM CST to 2:08 PM CST. Josef Newgarden led the field to green on lap 1 with Metagross passing Pee Saderd on lap 2, and Volcarona passed Simon Pagenaud. Pee Saderd dropped form 7th to 21st on lap 4 and other drivers passed the Russian veteran. Everyone from James Hinchcliffe until Mario Lopez moved to a position ahead of Saderd. Apolo Anton Ohno passed rookie Zachary Claman DeMelo for 13th. Fellow rookie Jordan King passed Zachary Claman DeMelo for 14th, bringing Claman DeMelo down from 13th to 15th. On lap 7, despite Saderd's slip from 7th to 21st early, Pee Saderd passed fellow Libran Mario Lopez for 20th. Mario Lopez, despite being passed by Saderd, Binder and Nidoking, entered the pit lane on lap 9. Pee Saderd passed Chespin for 19th and Mario Lopez was lapped by Josef Newgarden. Pee Saderd passed Ueli Kestenholz, the Kestenholz that upset Saderd at the Sebring Open finals for 18th position. The first yellow came out on lap 12 with Ueli Kestenholz off course after being passed by Pee Saderd for 18th. Under the Kestenholz caution, Saderd, Pagenaud, Claman DeMelo, Chespin, Binder and Nidoking entered the pit lane early for fuel. Ueli Kestenholz entered the pit lane three laps down to Newgarden. The race control said the incident between Bald and Kestenholz was under Steward's review and no further action is required. IndyCar warned Ryan Hunter-Reay for unattempted equipment and a post-race monetary fine. On lap 16, the green flag waved again with Josef Newgarden leading, with passes from Beartic, Metagross, James Hinchcliffe and Apolo Anton Ohno. It lasted for only one lap, and the second yellow came out for Will Power. Everyone from Ryan Hunter-Reay until Nidoking moved up a position. Ueli Kestenholz was out from the race with mechanical issues on his car, now IndyCar race control changed Kestenholz's DNF to contact. Abomasnow said to the drivers "the race might be shortened due to all this weather. Rain, rain, rain!". IndyCar called the red flag due to track conditions. The IndyCar race control started cars to warm engines on lap 19 to get the race coming back. Originally five minutes, now ten minutes to get the race back at 3:13 PM CST. IndyCar penalized Zachary Claman DeMelo for two laps for unapproved work during the red flag conditions. Abomasnow called the red flag "a good choice because of all this rain". After a 36-minute and 12 second red flag due to big rain at the track, IndyCar commenced the race again by starting engines again. IndyCar restarted the race again with a yellow flag condition on lap 20. Pee Saderd, Simon Pagenaud, Chespin, Nidoking and Rene Binder moved up one position, while Larvesta dropped to 20th. Larvesta was eventually a lap down to Josef Newgarden on lap 21. Jordan King and Pidgeot moved ahead of Graham Rahal, while Nidoking entered the pits and Larvesta is stuck in pit lane. Larvesta exited the pit lane a lap down to Newgarden. IndyCar issued another red flag that eventually cut the IndyCar race on Sunday at lap 23. IndyCar eventually postponed the race. Had it not been postponed, matches of the next tournament would have been on schedule. Monday Abomasnow was happy if Monday was the choice or a possible Tuesday IndyCar race if rain had been in the forecast. Had it been postponed once again, the 2018 Postponed Cup would have to be moved from November to October and the 2018 Luk Thung Cup would be moved to Barber Motorsports Park taking place from October 15-21. On lap 23 came the restart. Josef Newgarden led until he pitted and Beartic took the lead. Chespin was stopped on course on lap 34 of the timed-race. Beartic proved to bring the form that saw them upset Saderd in the 2018 Math Open at Indian Wells by leading the race. Josef Newgarden won Barber in three of the last four years by getting his third win at the track and his second of the 2018 season. Newgarden had blamed Andretti Autosport veteran Pee Saderd for not passing him at Long Beach. Beartic would have took the win from Newgarden if rain wasn't there, as they pitted for rain tires with only seven minutes remaining. Trivia